Stir well and strain into another glass that has been cooled and rinsed with Absinthe (Sirene Absinthe Verte) and squeeze lemon peel on top.

Everyone always sez that it’s a mistake to make a Sazerac with Bourbon. However, depending on your location, sometimes it can be hard to find Rye Whiskey.

The differentiation between Straight Bourbon and Straight Rye sometimes is a matter of a few percentages in the mash. Straight Bourbon must be made with 51% Corn and Straight Rye must be made with 51% Rye. Thus, a Bourbon made with a heavy percentage of Rye Mash and the minimum amount of Corn, can be pretty similar to most Ryes, which are typically made with close to the minimum amount of Rye.

A couple Bourbons which are typically bandied about as having a heavy percentage of Rye are Bulleit and Basil Hayden’s. As I seem to have acquired a couple bottles of Bulleit via my participation in various online blogging groups, and, well Basil Hayden’s is kind of expensive, Bulleit it is.

Heresy, though it may be, this isn’t a bad Sazerac at all. It’s a little richer than it would be with most Rye, but all the same, it is well within the Sazerac margin of error. Enough Rye spice to do the job, and fortunately none of the richness of a Wheated Bourbons. In fact, if I were to make a recommendation, that would be it. Stay away from wheated Bourbons in Sazeracs. Some of my best friends are Wheated Bourbons, but stick with Old-Fashioneds if that is all you have on hand, they just don’t make good Sazeracs.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.